Musical Monday: CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, where every American, no matter where they are, where they're from, what they believe, or what they look like can gather together in a spirit of goodwill and gratitude and eat wonderful food with family. I love the time spent gathering together, preparing the meal, and sharing stories (some for the first time some for the five-hundredth) over a meal together.

Thanksgiving also means that you can start listening to Christmas music!! Or at least start listening to it publicly =)

Unfortunately, while Christmas classics are wonderful, it can be way too easy to overload on the same 12 songs the radio plays ad nauseum in the next month or so, but that's why we have Musical Monday! (so we're not trapped by iHeartRadio's attempt to indoctrinate our tastes to a formulaic algorithm that makes it easier for them to make money off of artists)

Luckily, there's YouTube, Spotify and tons of other ways to create your own Christmas playlist. There are also independent media outlets like KEXP or RELEVANT Magazine that put out  Christmas music you can freely stream. RELEVANT even allows you to freely download the entire two-volume album of Christmas songs!

Check it out here:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/the-drop/very-relevant-christmas-vol-5-part-one

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/the-drop/very-relevant-christmas-vol-5-part-two

This album is full of amazing new songs and wonderful reinterpretations of holiday standards. Volume one is a little more upbeat while volume two is a bit smoother and slower to allow for introspection. I've already downloaded and played these all several times and have some new favorites for Christmas seasons to come.

What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?

Need even more Christmas music in your life? Check out this Christmas-themed Musical Monday from the ghost of Christmas Past